The Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai has made it mandatory for its students to furnish Aadhaar details, failing which their admissions will be cancelled, reported The Indian Express. Students joining the third semester are required to complete their biometric registration and fingerprint recording within 48 hours of returning to the campus, a circular issued by the institute said.

The biometric formalities for students taking admissions to the first semester will be completed at the time of verification of their joining documents and certificates. Biometric attendance had been made compulsory last year by the administration, however, it was withdrawn atfer protests by the students, reported The Indian Express.

Aadhaar details will help the institute keep track of students who may have received direct scholarships from the government but have not declared it, Tiss director S Parasuraman told the English daily. “The students continue to get funds from the institute,” he said.

Moreover, Tiss has also decided to discontinue financial aid to students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Class students. In the circular, the institute asked students “to mobilise resources for tuition fee, hostel and dining hall charges”.

Tiss said that since the government paid only the tuition fee for the students under the scholarship programme, the institute had to bear other expenses, reported Mumbai Mirror. “The cost incurred by Tiss on this account have not been reimbursed [by the government],” the circular said. “The Institute faces a deficit of over Rs 20 crore.”

Student unions have accused Tiss of deliberately keeping “marginalised sections away from higher education”. The move was an extension of “the policy of the government to oppress the oppressed people further,” Shambuk Uday, vice president at All India Students Federation, Maharashtra, and a Tiss alumnus, told Mumbai Mirror.